Vehicle article carriers are used in a wide variety of applications to support and transport various forms of articles and cargo above an outer body surface of a vehicle. Vehicle article carriers are presently in wide use in connection with automobiles, sport utility vehicles (SUVs), vans and even pick up trucks.
A vehicle article carrier often includes two pairs of support feet positioned laterally across from one another and secured fixedly to the outer body surface of the vehicle. Typically a first side rail (often termed a “support rail”) is secured to one pair of support feet, and a second side rail is secured to the other pair of support feet, such that the two side rails extend parallel to one another along a major longitudinal length of the vehicle. Often one or two cross bars are secured to the side rails. One of the cross bars may be fixedly secured so as to be non-movable, while the other is movable. Alternatively, both of the cross bars may include mechanisms that enable them to be moved along the side rails and locked in place at a desired position on the side rails.
With present day vehicle article carrier systems as described above, the cross bars, when in their operative positions extending between the two side rails, can often create a slight amount of wind noise that is perceptible by occupants within the vehicle. Because of this, when the cross bars of the vehicle article carrier system are not needed, some users prefer to remove them entirely from the side rails. As can be appreciated, the task of removing the side rails can be somewhat inconvenient. In addition, the side rails need to be stored once removed from the support feet of the vehicle article carrier system. If the cross bars need to be stored within the vehicle, this takes up otherwise useable cargo capacity within the vehicle. In some instances, tools such as screwdrivers or wrenches may be required to disassemble the cross bars from the side rails.
In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to provide a vehicle article carrier system which includes a pair of cross bars that can be quickly and easily configured as side rails, when there is no need to support articles above the outer surface of the vehicle, and then quickly and easily moved into place to act as cross bars when the need arises to support articles and various types of cargo. It would be further highly desirable if the operation of moving the cross bars into their positions as side rails could be accomplished without the need for any external tools being required for this operation. It would further be highly desirable if such a vehicle article carrier system could enable at least one of the cross bars to be adjustably positioned along the outer body surface of the vehicle, and locked at a desired position. This would enable the cross bars, when they are each in their operative positions, to be positioned to best suit the needs for carrying specific types of articles and cargo. Such a vehicle article carrier system would also eliminate the need to completely remove the cross bars from the remainder of the vehicle article carrier system, instead enabling the cross bars to be moved into positions parallel to one another along the major longitudinal length of the vehicle to thus be positioned to function as side rails.